Canuck caught up in alleged family murder conspiracy

When Linden Vey called the past two seasons the worst of his career, he was speaking only about his experiences on the ice.

But when you learn about his story, the one that has engulfed his family since 2013, it becomes impossible to separate what's unfolded off it.

As Vey has struggled to establish his NHL career, he has been balancing far bigger issues and he's hoping his family will soon get closure.

On May 24, his father Curtis Vey is to go on trial with co-accused Angela Nicholson. The pair have been charged with conspiracy to murder their spouses.

"Every player deals with certain distractions in their life, challenges," said Canucks president Trevor Linden. "I think that's normal. I don't think there has ever been a player who has dealt with something like this."

"It changes your life," Vey said. "Your life is a certain way for so many years and all of a sudden, you wake up one day and it's totally different.

"But I'm not going to sit here and say it's part of the reason I've had two of the worst seasons of my career."

The idea that Vey, who is very well liked in the Canucks room, can't use what's happened to explain why he hasn't been a more successful hockey player is a sentiment shared by several people who are part of his team, including the coaching staff.

It is a hard, difficult truth for a borderline NHL player, trying to carve out a career, and one who was disappointingly cut in the fall before going unclaimed on waivers.

"I didn't have a very good training camp," Vey acknowledged. "I thought it got better when I got called up. I think I started playing a little bit better.

"It's a tough situation for me. Sometimes, when you have something like that weighing on your mind, it's tough to be super focused.

"But I do have a great family and support system.

"I try not to focus on it too much. Any time it's a family matter, you try to keep it as private as you can.

"Everybody has something to go through. Life is never easy."

"Sometimes, when you have something like that weighing on your mind, it's tough to be super focused," said Linden Vey.

Linden said that through it all, Vey has functioned as "normally as could be expected."

"I think the guys around the room, and the coaches, never saw any evidence of it coming to the surface," Linden said. "You can only imagine what was going on inside of him."

The Canucks learned about the case after trading a second-round draft pick for Vey in 2014.

"What was important to us was making sure he got the help he needed," Linden said.

"I think coming to the rink has been a bit of a sanctuary for him. Once you walk in those doors, it's actually a bit of a blessing. He had his teammates around him and could have a real focus.

"I think it's probably harder when you leave and you go back into what is, quote, normal life again."

For a few years now, there has been nothing normal about Vey's life.

Several people close to him said he has stayed supportive of his father, who coached him until he was in peewee hockey. Vey grew up on a large farm in Wakaw, Sask., a town with a population of less than 1,000.

There was even some consideration given to bringing Curtis Vey on one of the Canucks' official fathers' trips.

"I don't talk to him a whole lot, but I do here and there," Vey said. "It's a tough situation. We were a super close family."

When Curtis and Nicholson were first charged, Nicholson's husband was outspoken about the case.

Taylor told Postmedia News then that Curtis was their financial adviser and co-signed cheques. Taylor revealed he had been estranged from his wife when the alleged plot took shape.

Vey has two siblings.

"My mother and I are super close," Vey said. "She came on the mothers' trip with me and she comes out quite a bit.

"My family — my brother and my sister — we're all tight. This is a time where we need to stick together as much as possible now."

The trial was originally slated to begin in the fall of 2014, a date that would have been during the hockey season and obviously far more complicated for Vey.

With it slated to start now in his off-season, Vey can be home with his family in Saskatchewan.

"As much as it is me involved, it's more about my parents' situation," Vey said. "I will be there to support my mother.

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